Russia expects Syrian opposition to attend Moscow conference

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Russia hopes that Syrian opposition figures will accept an invitation to participate in a proposed meeting in Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Wednesday.

“We have sent 25-30 invitations to the opposition representatives,” said Bogdanov, who is a presidential envoy on the Middle East and Africa.

The diplomat said Russia expects that the opposition figures will communicate with each other and the representatives of Syria’s authorities and launch a political dialogue in an effort to end the confrontation.

Bogdanov said Russia’s partners support Moscow’s proposal, calling it “useful and timely.”

The latest high-level talks on Syria’s future, known as the Geneva 2, took place almost a year ago. Since then, no steps have been taken to resume the inter-Syrian contacts, he said.

The unrest in Syria, which began in the early spring of 2011, has so far killed nearly 200,000 people and injured one million, according to the United Nations figures.